Gigabyte U2442 Line

A little off topic, but does anyone have any news on the 15.6" model (P2542G), I've seen in on pchome, but is there any news of a NA release?

 

I know it's not much, but I've been emailed and called these folks several times asking for some more release date information to no avail. They expect it 'soon' whatever that means.

Dynamism - Gigabyte U2442N

 

the SSD has a marvell controller, and it is no slouch:

mSATA SSD

Toshiba-supplied, synchronous mem (no toggle)

boots before the win7 logo comes together, edging out my old marvell-based crucial m4 128gb (firmware upgraded)

 

Nice! There's no mention of an optional Thunderbolt, but I'm willing to give it up for a 650M.

 

That's some insane OC'ing. If Gigabyte doesn't release the U2442N in the U.S within the next month, I'm definitely going to pick up the Vaio S13/S15.

 

i came to this conclusion as well.... but i still kinda want a 14" screen though... and i don't like that TN screen s13's have

 

Same here, I've set August 20th as my end of the line for waiting for u2442n availability before I go ahead with best available other option. Vaio S13 currently leading the pack.

 

is that S13 with bios mod faster than the U2442?

 

Probably, but you can always OC the U2442 too.

 

Just an FYI to everyone, Gigabyte is now saying mid-August for a US release.

 

where can i find this info?

 

Gigabyte NB is on Facebook. They posted a promotional video for the u2442N and people started asking when it will be available. They said mid-August for US and Thailand. Someone asked about Europe and they said mid-August in Germany. They also said no GT650m on the 2442N.

 

I might have to get a Nexus 7 to tide me over till this box comes out.

 

Do you know if thunderbolt is confirmed on any models?

 

No 650M? Boooo! But I'm sure the laptop can be tweaked to reach 650/660M status.

I guess I can wait til mid-August for this laptop. I'm hoping a full detailed review would come out soon so I can decide if I should bother waiting for this laptop or just get the S13/15 already.

 

They're not very talkative on their facebook page. They specifically said no 650m on the 2442N. But their youtube promo says 640m and 650m options. So the 650m might be an option on the 2442V.

 

I asked on Facebook and they said no models with thunderbolt.

 

damn - you can still see the spot where it was meant to go. Guess the wait for a suitable laptop is going to continue for sometime.

 

I only hope the ThinkPad x1 carbon that comes out early August is priced fairly.

 

if the cpu is upgradable then I'm already on a buy list for a thunderbolt version. otherwise I'm getting a thinkpad S430.

 

If you are referring to the u2442, the laptop is not compatible with the i7-3612qm according to the manufacturers fb Page besides, I thought 35w parts where soldered.

 

why 35W parts should be soldered? that doesn't make any sense. if ulv cpu's were soldered that would make more sense.
but in the end soldered is just a non sense. but anyway you can even buy 17W mobile cpu's.

 

My two 35 watt ivy and sandy bridge mobile chips are both socketed.

 

soldered cpu's are often excused with the need for thiner notebooks. which is a lie. you can even have small and thin 11" notebooks with socketed cpu's.
the real reason is to avoid consumers from upgrading and making them buy more notebooks instead.

 

Soldered CPUs are thinner overall though, just like soldered RAM. Whether it's a worth trade-off is up for debate but I doubt people buying ultrabooks are looking to upgrade the CPU anyway.

 

they don't make the notebook thinner. a cooler might.
it's not a trade-off. there's nothing to trade. a socketed notebook can be as thiner as a non socketed.
I don't doubt people that people want to upgrade. otherwise you wouldn't have loads of topics about it. and btw I'm one of those persons looking for a thunderbolt ultrabook with a socketed cpu.

 

It looks like the first U2442N in North America will be here soon. http://forum.notebookreview.com/wha...ompare-its-rivals-zenbook-vaio-s-z-etc-5.html

 

Facebook update:

- No thunderbolt models.
- No i7-3612QM
- GT650m model isn't due until the end of the year

 

No Thunderbolt on any North American version?

 

The contacts are attached directly to the mobo, without the layer in between. No socket/no pins-> thinner. Should be fairly obvious, dunno why you're even arguing the contrary.

 

The direct quotes are:

Questioner: Which model(s) if any have thunderbolt? Any plans for an Intel i7-3612QM? It is a 35 watt part.

Gigabyte: Unfortunately, we do not have any models with thunderbolts. The i7-3612QM is not pin-to-pin compatible with current model.

 

I think it's a BIOS issue, if anything. I'm pretty sure the full powered i3/i5/i7 chips use the same socket.

 

I would guess that the rep, as most reps, really doesn't have much of a clue. At first, the reps told people that the U2442N would not be imported in the US. I do think the CPU is a BGA mount (which, BTW, is a few mm thinner than a PGA socket mount). The pins, however, are the same for a 35W dual core and 35W quad. It is just that Gigibyte isn't putting them in. The Ads say thunderbolt and Intel will begin supporting the port in November, so I would look for the new units in Q1 to have the more powerful GPU and Thunderbolt. Gigabyte does not have a way to configure to order its units, so it will be selling set models like Acer does. Once a few of these are around, it will be interesting to see how well built it is. That is the only variable I see ATM, since this is clearly the most powerful ultrabook on the market and, for the price, there is really no competition, if the display is decent and it doesn't flex to high heaven.

 

Do you say that Gigabyte U2442 will get Thunderbolt and GT650M in November or Q1 (don't quite understand what you mean).

 

If I understand right U2442 will come in both i5-3210M and i7-3517U. According to cpu-benchmark both have the same score, but which of them do you guys prefer?

Little strange that both have same score because (if i understand right), you can change TDP-voltage on i7-3517U and that should give even faster cpu?

PassMark - CPU Benchmarks - List of Benchmarked CPUs

 

I don't buy it. No way a 35W I5 CPU is beaten by an I7 17W ULV. These are probably not demonstrated scores, and are estimates. These make the IB CPUs 2000 points lower than the I5 SB CPUs. I would wait for some benchmarks before I believed Passmark. They are known to be innacurate.

 

Intel orignally anounced that it would include native Thunderbolt support in its IB chips. When the dual core chips began to be released in june, Intel backed off that and said it would not have native Thunderbolt support ready on most of its chips until November. By the time they start to find their way into most units, I would guess it will be after the first of the year. That is what I mean.

 

Intresting, so you mean that Intel is the problem that TB is not included in Gigabyte U2442? What is the source for that?

Emailed Gigabyte in Germany (I think it was from Germany they answered me) and they wrote to me that it was exkluded because of a lack of support from market research. On the other side I think it's really stupid to show TB in Cebit etc and then exklude it. But that was what I was told, maybe he is wrong.

Acer S5 should have TB and is released now and Acer S7 will have thunderbolt and should be released around the release of Win8. So I don't get it all together.

 

thunderbolt was excluded due to the stupid intel certification. unlike other I/O ports like usb, thunderbolt devices need to be certified by intel. it sucks.
that's why it's going to take a long time before it's introduction. like the asus g55vm and g75vm. it's the same problem.
I just would love is someone could reverse engineer the chip.

 

But the questian is still... Why do Acer S5 have thunderbolt? and that computer is available in Sweden right now.

And still... is there and good source that U2442 will get TB around year end?

 

Cutting off thunderbolt is like shooting himself in the leg. They will definately miss a lot of sales because of that.
Extremely disapointing...

 

Finally tracked down a store in Taipei that had a floor model to play with. It felt pretty light in my hands and looks better in person than the pictures online suggest. Build quality seemed pretty good and the U2442N i5 model I looked at was around 35000NT and came with 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD and 750GB HD. Speakers also sounded good and loud (that was one of my big worries after reading all the reviews about the crappy speakers on the Sony S13). I'll wait a couple more weeks to see if they announce US pricing and warranty. The Taiwanese model has a 2 year warranty, but it also has the Taiwanese keyboard, which I'd rather not have.

 

How was the flex on the keyboard. Better than the prototype we have seen on YouTube, I hope. Were you able to see the display? Thanks for your impressions, it sounds encouraging. The Taiwanese keyboard is the same as the US KB, but has bi-lingual lettering.

 

The Acer S5 provides its own Thunderbolt controler, which is a separate chip on the motherboard, since there is no native support from the IB CPU. For such a premium notebook (with HD display ) they can afford the extra cost. Lenovo has done the same thing with its T430. Most other manufacturers have decided to wait until IB natively supports Thunderbolt before adding the ports to their units. As far as assurances that you will see it in the Gigabyte, there are no guarantees in this world. It stands to reason that, when Intel provides native support for the TB, it will appear in most notebooks alongside USB 3.0 since the cost will be negligible. We will probably see them after the first of the year.

 

Yes I know the keyboard is the same as a US keyboard. But I don't like the look of the Zhuyin lettering on my keys =P I'll live with it though if the machine is a lot cheaper than the US version.

I haven't seen the youtube video but I tried to make the keyboard flex and was unable to in my 5 minutes with the machine. It seemed pretty sturdy. I didn't do an in-depth check of the screen. Nor did I check the viewing angles. It also didn't help that the machine was in a thin layer of plastic wrap to protect it.

I go back to US tomorrow, but may be back in Taiwan in 2-3 weeks. If I go back to that store again, what specifically does anyone want me to check for? Can someone give me the link for the keyboard flex, so that I can see if I can reproduce it?

 

Thanks for the explanaition. But still it was not the same explanation as the one who answered my email. But maybe he's wrong. But he wrote that response from customers where "negative" to pay for TB. Sounds crazy to me, the cost for a TB-port must be negliable.

Sounds like a intresting ultrabook so hope that we see som real reviews and that it will be released in Sweden quite soon.

 

Good news about the keyboard. I assumed that the flex was due to the prototype and that Gigabyte would have it resolved for the production model. I think the US price will be less than the Taiwan price by $150 if it follows the 3820TG pattern from a couple of years ago. Next time back, would love to know how the display holds up and how narrow the verticle viewing angles are. Brightness and contrast (deep blacks) too. Thanks. This is good news.

 

I remember someone said battery life for the Gigabyte was about 3.5 hours? Could that same person do an actual test with light usage and see how long the battery really lasted? Also, how are thermals with the notebook during light usage and under load? I've been looking for a college computer for a while and this is almost perfect. Mobile+powerful+stylish+affordable. The most i'll play on it is GW2 really. Otherwise it comes down to Envy15 vs Vaio s13 or 15.

 

Gigabyte said for Word processing you will get 5 hours with U2442N or 6.5 with the V

I think thermals will be better on this than on the Envy or Vaio - Gigabyte are making a big deal of their twin vents.

Hopefully it will be silent as there seems to be noise issues with the Envy 14 (not sure about 15) and the Vaio S

 

With the Sony vaio bios mod for the 640M LE, I couldn't really see any reason to wait for this anymore.

Plus the Sony sheet battery is a big draw for me, as it means I can use my laptop on the plane without worrying about it running out of juice, but it's still light and portable enough for daily use.

And there is no sign of these ever hitting Europe, whereas I can buy a Sony vaio s right now.